Design and Motion Process of Air-Sieve Castor Cleaning Device Based on Discrete Element Method

Abstract

In order to improve the cleaning effect of the castor shelling mixture, an air-sieve castor cleaning device was developed. The structure of the cleaning device was optimized by experiment and simulation based on the discrete element method. The results show that the sieving efficiency of the square distribution is 98.23% and the loss rate is 2.39%, both of which are better than the triangular distribution. The sieving efficiency in the condition of a 14 mm sieve hole diameter is 98.23%. For the conditions of 15 mm and 16 mm sieve hole diameters, the sieving efficiencies are 96.64% and 96.69%, respectively. Therefore, a sieve hole diameter of 14 mm is more beneficial for the sieving of castor capsules. The sieving efficiency is 94.0–99.5%, and the loss rate is 0.5–3.0% under 5–9° sieve inclination. The cleaning effect is better through comprehensive analysis when the sieve surface inclination is 8°. The parameters of maximum sieving efficiency combination, minimum loss rate combination, and optimal cleaning effect were obtained by optimizing the operating parameters of the cleaning device. The operating parameters were adjusted, and then the three combinations of parameters were tested. It is found that the impurity content of castor seeds is within 1%, which meets the requirements of the device design. This study can provide a reference for developing high-efficiency castor cleaning devices.